On a Sunday afternoon, I can think of no better activity...

On a Sunday afternoon, I can think of no better activity than to stroll around Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) for the afternoon. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of people who are there for the express purpose of viewing, and hopefully, appreciating art. I have been to LACMA countless times, starting from the time that I was a very young girl, but never before had I gone with a specific assignment to complete - to view LACMA’s collection of Renaissance art in order to compare and contrast pieces in their exhibit to the works of art that we have studied in Humanities class. I will be focusing on Madonna and Child in a Landscape by Cima da Conegliano as well as Portrait of a Man by Petrus Christus and comparing and†¦show more content†¦Portrait of a Man is a detailed representation of an unnamed individual painted with oil on oak panel. Like van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Wedding, Portrait of a Man is rich in vibrant hues, and highly detailed. The af orementioned painting by van Eyck, which is a full length portrait that shows a couple in their home around the time of their marriage, has a more complex composition than Portrait of a Man, and is rich in symbolism. Christus’ piece portrays the individual up close, from the shoulders up, with a black background. While it may have less accompanying detail in the background, the individual is portrayed in a realistic, vibrant detail that is reminiscent of van Eyck’s style. The unnamed man has a serious expression on his face, with what seems to be some facial stubble and bags under his eyes that makes one wonder what it is that is going on with him. Dressed in what appears to be a plush red velvet tunic, it’s almost as if one could reach out and stroke the fabric. I did not get to view the specific Renaissance artists that we covered in class as LACMA does not have in their permanent collection Renaissance artists such as Raphael, van Eyck, Botticelli or Da Vinci. I did however, greatly enjoy viewing their contemporaries and felt that I had done so with a different eye than I had ever done at any previous visits to that museum. Frankly, I would have probably breezed

Bureaucracy Democracy Free Essays

Democracy is a term with several meanings and this has led to a genuine misconception as to its real meaning. To some, bureaucracy is red tape, to others it is officialdom and to some it is an organizational form (Cole p25). Observation and studies on bureaucracy have been done by many academicians among them Max Weber (1864-1920). We will write a custom essay sample on Bureaucracy Democracy or any similar topic only for you Order Now Weber wanted to find out why people in many organizations obeyed those in authority over them. Weber observed that people obeyed legitimate authority and he identified three types of legitimate authority as traditional authority, charismatic authority and rational-legal authority. It is the rational-legal form of authority that exists in most organizations today and this is the form to which Weber ascribed the term ‘bureaucracy’. Weber outlined the main features of bureaucracy as a continuous organization of functions bound by rules, specified spheres of competence, a hierarchical arrangement of offices, appointments to offices made on grounds of technical competence, the separation of officials from the ownership of the organization, official positions exist on their own right and finally rules, decisions and actions are formulated and recorded in writing (Cole p 26). Weber felt that bureaucracy was indispensable for large organizations and there is no doubt that this form organization has been adopted in one way or another virtually in all forms of enterprises the world over. Government bureaucracy: â€Å"If men were angels, no government would be necessary† James Madison and for governments bureaucracy is form of governance that is practicable. However this form of governance has critics and the views of Amy are that bureaucracy is a governance structure that is often perceived negatively by a number of people but he says that most criticisms of government bureaucracy are based more on myths than reality (Amy 2007 p1-8). Amy’s observation is that people normally associate bureaucracy to massive waste, inefficiency, poor service, ever-growing organizations, mindless rules and realms of useless forms. For these people there is nothing good about bureaucracy as those working in such systems are considered to be lazy, hostile, overpaid, imperious and inflexible. In his arguments, Amy dismisses what he terms the four myths about bureaucracy; 1. Myth no 1: Bureaucracies are immensely wasteful. Tax payers wrongly or rightly believe that much of the tax increases are a result of wastefulness arising from bureaucracies. Government agencies are considered not only wasteful but enormously wasteful. A survey carried out revealed that Americans believe that 48 cents of every tax dollar going to bureaucracies such the Social Security Administration are wasted (Amy 2007). Amy says that investigations by the Government Accounting Office and various blue-ribbon commissions have found that waste amounts to a small fraction of that figure. 2. Myth no 2: Business is always better than bureaucracy. As per Amy, there have been many empirical studies examining government bureaucracies versus business in many areas, including refuse collection, electrical utilities, public transportation, water supply systems and hospital administration. The findings have been mixed. Some studies of electric utilities have found that publicly owned ones were more efficient and charged lower prices than privately owned utilities. Several other studies found the opposite while many others found no significant difference. 3. Myth no 3: We want the government to act like a business. The main concern of the government is quality of the service not its costs unlike the business who are obsessed with the bottom-line and hence looking for the cheapest way to make a product or deliver as service. For example it will be imprudent to spend the least amount of resources in the air traffic control system or to look for the cheapest workforce to take charge of security at the airports. 4. Myth no 4: Bureaucracy is major cause of government growth. Conservatives argue that government bureaucracies have an inherent tendency to expand. However figures show that federal agencies have not been growing at an alarming rate. For example in 1970, about 2997000 civilians worked for the federal government at that time. By 2007 that figure had actually gone down to 2695000. An article in published by the Suburban Emergence Management Project (2006 home page) states that the Hurricane Katrina response by the federal, state and local governments in August-September 2005 caused some people to lose faith in the bureaucratic approach used by traditional government hierarchies to organize the provision of services to users who desperately needed them. For example, at the local level, New Orleans Mayor told the U. S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security that he could not commandeer the dozens available school buses to evacuate people because the school boards owned buses, he had no authority over the boards and there was no agreement for the use of the buses. At the state level, the Governor delayed use of military forces to begin reconstitution of the stricken localities until she could validate her authority to rule the troops by disallowing federal National Guards in her state. At the federal level, the President, the Homeland Security Secretary and Federal Emergency Management Agency director could provide services to users of New Orleans during Katrina only at the discretion of the governor of Louisiana. Conclusion: There are areas where government bureaucracy is more effective while in other cases it is counterproductive as evidenced during the Hurricane Katrina crisis. Works cited Amy, D. J. (2007). ‘The case of Democracy, The government is Good We the People; An unapologetic Defense of vital institution’. Available at http://www. governmentisgood. com/articles. php? =20 accessed on April 2, 2009. Pages 1-8 Cole, G. (2004). Management Theory and Practice, 6th Edition published, by Thomson Learning 2004. 25-28. Suburban Emergency Management Project (2006), ‘Government Bureaucracy and Two Newer Cultural Approaches to Provide Services Delivery to the Citizenry during Disasters’, Biot Report #411: November 07, 2006. Available at http://www. semp. us/public/biot_reder. php? BiotID=411 accessed on April 3, 2009. How to cite Bureaucracy Democracy, Papers

Emily Dickinsons Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers free essay sample

An analysis of imagery and abstraction in Emily Dicksons poetry. This paper explores the themes integral to Emily Dickinsons works. The author examines the writers use of imagery and abstraction that makes her poems so unique with emphasis on one poem `Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers`. `Emily Dickinson asserts and establishes her poetic individuality and identity in her poetry; her poems delve deep into her personality and expose her thoughts about religion, life, and society. Her consistent themes of metaphor, ambiguity, and identity persevere and triumph in her poetic expressions of herself. Dickinson was a reclusive individual who separated herself from society; her personality is exhibited and revealed within her poetry, most of which was published after her death about a century ago. She was a profound mystery when she was alive and continues to remain an enigma today. Dickinson has been deemed a `Queen Recluse` (Lindberg-Seyersted 17) by Samuel Bowles and even the `madwoman in the attic` by Sandra Gilbert. We will write a custom essay sample on Emily Dickinsons Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The imagery and abstraction in her poetry hint at the hidden genius concealed within this woman, who continues to be one of the most influential poets of the 19th century. She precluded her time by challenging and redefining the standard structure and model of poetry established by lesser poets before her.`